Flood situation across several parts of the country turned grim and train link to the entire North-East region was cut off on Monday. Thousands of marooned people have been shifted to safe locations and over 150 people have perished. Nearly 40 lakh people have been severely impacted in Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and the North-East States of India.
In several areas, the Army had to be called out for rescue and relief operations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to the Chief Ministers of the affected States and assured them of all help from the Centre.
With communication lines already snapped and road connectivity blocked, the rail services to the entire North-East region were stopped practically cutting off the entire area. As a result thousands of passengers are stranded at different railway stations of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.
In Assam, the second wave of floods has affected 25 districts and nearly 30 lakh people in over 3,000 villages. Incessant rain has triggered massive landslides in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. Areas in Imphal valley in Manipur too have been flooded heavily affecting thousands of people.
The troops of Gajraj Corps of the Indian Army continued to provide flood relief in Assam.
Army vehicles assisted civil administration in ferrying rations and other stores to the relief camps. Heavy rainfall in past 72 hours in upper reaches of the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries has led to the fresh flood in the plains of Assam. The situation is expected to worsen as the water level of Brahmaputra, Buridihing, Dhansiri, Jia Bharali, Puthimari, Na Dehing, Subansiri, lohit and Sankosh rivers are flowing above their danger levels. Over two lakh people have taken shelter in 342 relief camps opened by the concerned districts administrations in Assam. The current wave of floods have also affected close to two lakh hectares of agricultural lands in Assam.
Flood situation in Arunachal Pradesh continued to remain grim as surface communication has been disrupted. Capital town Itanagar has remained cut off from Assam and other parts of the region after a portion of National Highway 415 was affected due to landslide triggered by incessant rain for the past few days.
Major portion of Anjaw, East Siang and Namsai districts were affected by flood while Papum Pare, East Kameng and West Siang were partly hit. Remote Anjaw district has been cut off from the rest of the State for seven days as the main road to the district from lohit remained blocked at several places following landslides, an official report said. Hawai, Hayuliang and Chaglongam Circle in the district were cut off from the rest of the district for the past three or four days, the report said. Though efforts were on clear the roads, recurring landslides were hampering restoration work, it added.
Food crisis looms large in the district bordering China and Deputy Commissioner Mamata Riba requested the State Government for facilitating air dropping of food packets if the road remains blocked for another two days.
landslides also hit the connectivity in Manipur since last 24 hours after different stretches of the Imphal-Jiribam highway was affected by landslide. State officials said that a large number trucks heading toward Imphal from Jiribam have been stranded on the way.
The PM spoke to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “Ever since Assam has witnessed flood, the Central Government has been closely and constantly monitoring the situation. All possible support is being provided to Assam for overcoming the flood situation prevailing in parts of the State,” Modi tweeted.
During his conversation with Nitish, Modi assured him of all support from the Centre to mitigate the situation. “My thoughts are with all those affected by floods in parts of Bihar,” Modi said. “Centre assures all support to Bihar Government to mitigate the flood situation. Teams of @NDRFHQ are in Bihar for rescue and relief work,” the PMO tweeted.
In West Bengal, nearly five lakh people are facing the flood fury with worst affected areas being Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Malda, North Dinajpur, Darjeeling and South Dinajpur districts. The National Highway 31 is completely submerged at Maruganj and speedboats of the National Disaster Relief Force are engaged in rescue operations. Similarly, thousands of houses have been washed away in Odisha.